Move over stockbrokers: ‘Ant’ investors new stars of TV shows

The global entertainment industry’s obsession with revealing the finance industry’s deepest and darkest secrets on screen is nothing new. But in South Korea, the protagonists are no longer power-hungry brokers in suits – it’s everyday retail investors. JTBC’s “Cleaning Up,” a 16-episode remake of the British drama of the same name which aired from June 4 to July 24, is at the forefront of the change. It tells the story of how cleaners at a local broker

Aug. 2, 2022

SK hynix completes Key Foundry acquisition

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of domestic contract-based chip manufacturer Key Foundry The announcement came nine months after SK hynix signed a 575.8 billion won ($440.3 million) deal in October to acquire the entire stake of the 200-millimeter wafer foundry company based in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, from local private equity firms Alchemist Capital Partners and Gravity Private Equity. SK hynix added that it has won the antitru

Aug. 2, 2022

Hyundai’s Xcient hydrogen truck to debut in Germany

Hyundai Motor said Tuesday that its Xcient Fuel Cell, the world’s first mass-produced, heavy-duty truck powered by hydrogen, will make its debut in Germany as part of the carmaker’s efforts to expand its presence in the largest commercial vehicle market.  A total of 27 units of Xcient trucks will be delivered to seven local companies in the logistics and manufacturing sectors. This will be the second time that Hyundai has exported its fuel-cell truck to Europe after it clinche

Aug. 2, 2022

Posco, Brazil’s Vale seek to produce hot briquette iron

Posco said Tuesday that it will conduct a feasibility study with Brazil’s largest raw material supplier, Vale, for the possible production of hot briquette iron as part of the steel giant’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.  HBI, which is created by reducing the iron ore with natural gas, is a relatively new product that has been recently introduced to be used as a pre-material in blast furnaces or electric arc furnaces. A low-carbon HBI manufacturing plant emits less ca

Aug. 2, 2022

Burger joints raise prices again to fight inflation

Despite enjoying increased sales from the ongoing “lunchflation,” fast food joints in South Korea have been raising their burger prices, citing surging production costs amid lingering inflation fears. Mom‘s Touch, a homegrown chicken chain, said Tuesday that it will raise the prices for 50 products by 200-400 won ($0.15-$0.31) starting Thursday. This is the second price hike by the burger joint this year alone. Mom’s Touch explained that the decision was made “w

Aug. 2, 2022

Seoul shares open lower amid US-China tension, recession woes

Seoul shares opened lower Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, with investors keeping a watchful eye on escalating US-China tension over Taiwan amid global recession woes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.10 points, or 0.21 percent, to trade at 2,447.15 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly plans to visit Taiwan on Tuesday. China has warned of consequences if she makes the trip to what it views as its terri

Aug. 2, 2022

S. Korea's inflation at near 24-year high in July on high energy, food prices

South Korea's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in almost 24 years in July due to high energy and food prices, data showed Tuesday, raising expectations that the central bank will continue to raise the policy rate to tame inflation. Consumer prices soared 6.3 percent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from a 6 percent on-year spike in June, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the sharpest on-year increase since November 1998, when consumer inflation jumped 6.8

Aug. 2, 2022

BOK signals rate hike slowdown while slashing growth forecast

Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong told lawmakers Monday that the central bank will deliver the usual 0.25 percentage point interest rate hikes this year, while acknowledging that the economy would fall short of the 2.7 percent annual growth for 2022. The central bank a month ago backed its biggest single rate raise of 0.5 percentage point to tame persistent inflation prompted by a global surge in materials and food costs. The bank holds three more board meetings, each in August, October and No

Aug. 1, 2022

Seoul shares up for 6th day on speculation over less-aggressive US rate hikes

Seoul shares closed higher Monday amid speculation a second straight quarterly US contraction may cause the Fed to become less aggressive in raising rates. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.75 point, or 0.03 percent, from the previous session to close at 2,451.5 points, extending its winning streak to the sixth day. Trading volume was moderate at 480.94 million shares worth 7.4 trillion won ($5.7 billion), with gainers outnu

Aug. 1, 2022

Power demand hits record high amid heat wave

Sizzling temperatures that hit the country last month led to record-breaking electricity demand, data showed Monday. According to Korea Power Exchange, the country’s average maximum power demand stood at 82,007 megawatts last month, up 1.0 percent on-year -- the highest since records began in June 2005. The sudden surge of power consumption resulted from many households and buildings turning up the air conditioning due to the scorching heat wave and tropical nights across the nation thro

Aug. 1, 2022

Revision seeks to allow battery subscription for EVs

The South Korean government said Monday that it would revise the law to allow battery subscription services for electric vehicles, a move that is expected to pull down EV prices almost one-third from their current price tag and lower entry barriers for potential buyers.  The Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure said that a 36-member regulatory reform committee held a meeting on Thursday to approve the planned revision. The current law on vehicle registration does not allow two

Aug. 1, 2022

S. Korea’s accumulative trade deficit hits 66-year high

SEJONG -- South Korea posted a trade deficit for the fourth consecutive month in the wake of a noteworthy decline in exports to China as well as the spiraling import prices of raw materials, with the cumulative deficit for the first seven months of the year hitting the highest in 66 years. In particular, the nation recorded all-time high imports in July due to a spike in energy prices, which has worsened the trade balance, state data showed Monday. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry

Aug. 1, 2022

Samsung publishes paper on artificial muscle actuators for VR devices

Samsung Electronics said Monday its joint research team with Ajou University published a paper last month on the wider adoption of artificial muscle actuators for wearables in Nature Communications, an online publisher affiliated with Nature, the science journal. The paper, titled “Actuating Compact Wearable Augmented Reality Devices by Multifunctional Artificial Muscle,” was recognized for expanding the use of artificial muscle actuators in robotics to the field of smaller wearabl

Aug. 1, 2022

Hyundai Motor unveils smart city vision in Singapore

Hyundai Motor Group on Monday unveiled its vision for smart city at the World Cities Summit in Singapore, with an aim to offer a blueprint for smart mobility solutions that revitalize urban communities.  During a panel discussion at the biannual summit, the automaker’s President and Chief Innovation Officer Chi Young-cho offered a detailed look into the company’s vision for human-focused city design through its HMG Smart City concept. The company first unveiled such vision for

Aug. 1, 2022

LG Chem looks to begin final stage of clinical trials for gout drug with FDA

LG Chem has applied for phase 3 clinical trials of its gout treatment candidate Tigulixostat with the US Food and Drug Administration, the South Korean company said Monday. If the application gets the go-ahead sign from the FDA, it will mark the first time for LG Chem to carry out phase 3 clinical trials of its self-developed new drug candidate globally including in the US, according to the company. Gout is a painful form of arthritis that is characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, sw

Aug. 1, 2022

SK Bioscience eyes Europe as market for COVID-19 vaccine

SK Bioscience has submitted the application for conditional approval of the COVID-19 vaccine SKY Covione with the European Medicines Agency in efforts to expand its presence in the global market, the South Korean vaccine developer said Monday. Beginning with the European region, SK Bioscience said it will look to showcase the South Korean COVID-19 vaccine on the global stage as the size of the coronavirus vaccine market grows rapidly. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Ministry gav

Aug. 1, 2022

SK hynix to mass-produce CXL memory chips from 2023

South Korean memory chip maker SK hynix said Monday it has sampled the first memory product under the compute express link memory interface, a concept considered a game-changer in the electronics industry that is facing memory storage bottleneck. The announcement heralds SK hynix‘s long-awaited move to enter the market and roll out expandable CXL memory products for servers by 2023, according to the world’s second-largest DRAM chip maker. CXL is a newly-emerging semiconductor stand

Aug. 1, 2022

SK Geo Centric, Tokuyama to build plant for wafer washing agent

South Korean petrochemical firm SK Geo Centric has started construction on a facility to produce semiconductor wafer surface washing material with Tokyo-based chemical firm Tokuyama in Ulsan, a city some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the company announced Monday. SK Geo Centric aims to produce some 30,000 tons of semiconductor-grade high-purity isopropyl alcohol each year through a 50:50 joint venture with Tokuyama called Stac beginning in 2024. Isopropyl alcohol is the material used to c

Aug. 1, 2022

Starbucks tops most preferred coffee chain in S. Korea: survey

Starbucks topped the list of the most preferred specialty coffee chains in South Korea, according to a recent survey published by the Korea Consumer Agency on Monday. In the survey, conducted between April 7 and 15, a total of 1,400 adults were requested to rate seven coffeehouses based on consumer satisfaction and frequency of use. Starbucks scored the highest at 3.99 points out of the total 5, followed by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf with 3.93 points and Hollys Coffee with 3.92 points.

Aug. 1, 2022

F&F Q2 net income up 118% to W69.2b

F&F Co. on Monday reported its second-quarter net income of 69.2 billion won ($53 million), up 118 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 95 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 43.2 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 88.4 percent to 371.4 billion won. The operating profit was 9.2 percent higher than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The estimate of

Aug. 1, 2022